Limestone Quarry Project Prepares For Open House

Monday, September 03, 2007 04:00 AM

Graymont is preparing for open houses this fall to share information on their proposed limestone quarry in the Giscome area.

The Canadian owned company is hoping to establish an open pit limestone quarry and processing plant near Eaglet Lake, just east of Giscome.

In a newsletter to interested parties, Graymont says the limestone deposit is rich enough to allow Graymont to operate at this site “for many decades.”

The planning and approval process for the Giscome project is still in the early stages with the formal work on the BC Environmental Assessment just getting underway. Graymont says it is expected the Terms of Reference for the Environmental Assessment will be issued for public review before the end of this year.

The quarry would cover approximately 200 hectares and produce up to 1.2 million tonnes of limestone per year and a plant that would produce up to 400,000 tonnes of lime per year. Construction would require approximately 45 person years of work, and the operation of the lime plant and quarry will create 30 direct high paying" jobs and another 60 indirect jobs.

The company is optimistic it will pass all environmental requirements and would be able to start operations in the fourth quarter of 2010.

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Posted on Monday, September 03, 2007 04:00 AM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: YamaDooPolCat on September 3 2007 7:20 AM

Now we are going to hear about how that site is the exact spot where the Indians used to mine lime for the solid rocket boosters in their space program. Or some similar fascinating story.

Is lime used in explosives? How far away is Crescent Spur?

Posted by: Chester on September 3 2007 9:42 AM

Some more diversification to the area's job market. We have been asking for jobs not related to the forest sector. So, here we are.

It is my hope that government, environment and native concerns will all be addressed and dealt with in a sensible manner. The resources in our province were meant to be tapped into and managed in a responsible fashion. Let's do it right from the start. Chester

Posted by: HepCat on September 3 2007 9:59 AM

Nothing in the story about the fact that they're going to burn coal in an already polluted airshed? How interesting.

Posted by: editor on September 3 2007 11:33 AM

HepCat:
I am not certain about what you are trying to suggest, however, may I direct you to the story we printed in May of this year when the quarry project was first presented to the Regional District of Fraser Fort George.

"Limestone Quarry Project Planned"
You will see the coal issue was presented:
"The only issue which seemed to raise any eyebrows, is the fuel source to create the heat needed to fire the kilns. The company says it plans on using coal, but will look at the possibility of beetle kill bio mass "It all depends on economics" says Higgs."

If you have any other questions about this story, please contact me I would be more than happy to provide you with the information I have.

Elaine Macdonald

Posted by: HepCat on September 3 2007 12:17 PM

I'm not suggesting anything. I'm curious why you would expect people to have to go through four months worth of archives to find some pretty basic information. That seems to me like bad journalism, at best.

Posted by: diplomat on September 3 2007 1:47 PM

How far does the *airshed* extend beyond the city bowl area?

If it extends as far as Eaglet Lake I question the piles of slash that are being readied for burning within the city (Hart Highway) and elsewhere.

What can be done to stop the burning of beetle wood slash?

It stinks.

Posted by: NMG on September 3 2007 4:20 PM

Well as a start, perhaps we need to elect a City Council that will take some tangible steps to improve air quality.

It's actually getting ridiculous. I think they've been talking about improving the air quality as long as they've been talking about revitalizing the downtown core and we all know how that's turning out.

We do it to ourselves by electing the same people year in and year out. What's that thing they say about the definition of insanity; doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results?

Fortunately, the environment is becoming more of an issue everyday and the average person is starting to care more about it than in years past. We need to elect people who are actually committed to addressing the problem, instead of just putting up with it because the solution would require making difficult decisions. Just my opinion of course.

Posted by: YamaDooPolCat on September 3 2007 7:25 PM

I used to be busy in the fall lighting up thousands of acres of clearcut debris, and then the usual suspects started howling about the smoke, so we couldn't burn anymore.
Now the forest health experts have decided that burning is more healthy for the forests and burning is acceptable again.
But they don't know what to do with the landscape that was buggered up because it wasn't burnt.
I'm continually amazed at how a few snivelers can cause so much ignorant management.

Posted by: diplomat on September 3 2007 7:39 PM

"...the usual suspects started howling about the smoke..."

I happen to be one of those howling snivelers. I am allergic to woodsmoke and I can hardly breathe when the air thickens with woodsmoke and the sky turns yellow.

It affects me worse than second hand smoke in a pub.

So sorry.

Posted by: NMG on September 3 2007 8:26 PM

To be blunt, I'm more concerned about my own health than what foresters believe should happen after clear cuts have occurred.

If you are lighting up a blaze and it's out in the middle of nowhere, where it cannot affect people, fly at it. If it contributes negatively to the airshed that 75,000 other people have to live in, I think our collective needs take priority.

Posted by: Chester on September 3 2007 10:03 PM

We can't light a back yard fire pit to cook a few hot dogs, but burning slash piles have been visible from my office window. Go figure. Always a double standard.

We have chippers to get rid of slash piles. Start using them. Chester

Posted by: owl on September 3 2007 10:31 PM

They used to just dump old cars on people's rural lots and let them rust .... then people started complaining that it was an unsightly mess ......

and they kept piling up the rusted cars on people's rural lots and didn't give a chit about the complainers ......

We are living in a garbage dump and we do not know it; we polute our land, our water and our air. We are overpopulated and we think it only applies to the south ....

Actually, they are cleaning their mess up as they start to get more populated ... we still just throw it anywhere we want to ... out of sight, out of mind ....

Hey, me macho man .. me pollute like all good macho men .... who gives chit about others ...

Posted by: owl on September 3 2007 10:37 PM

Chippers are great ... return the biotics to the soil to nourish it. Saw a recent video of a chinese plot of ground that is known to have been farmed for about 7,000 years as best as they can tell without artificial fertilizers ..... the way we remove trees and not give back to the soil a reasonable part that has been taken teh rotations won;t last anywhere near that long ...... but that is not our problem, is it?

Posted by: owl on September 3 2007 10:39 PM

NMG, you make way too much sense for most people on here. How did you ever end up here? We just cannot allow that kind of thinking to predominate.

;-)

Posted by: YamaDooPolCat on September 4 2007 8:24 AM

"diplomat" "I happen to be one of those howling snivelers. I am allergic to woodsmoke and I can hardly breathe when the air thickens with woodsmoke and the sky turns yellow.

It affects me worse than second hand smoke in a pub.

So sorry."

So sorry too, forest health has to come first. Fires are needed in the forests.

Chippers was the up and coming thing about twenty years ago. Some people I know actually bought a machine fifteen years ago for about $500,000, it was a monster. But he went broke and is now out of debt and back into regular logging. Unfortunately the regular use of chipping makes our timber non-competitive and can't be done on any significant scale.

For health reasons diplomat is going to have to move out of PG so he doesn't hurt our economy. You can live anywhere in Canada and still get all the taxpayer support services our forest industry provides for and people take for granted.

Sorry for your bad luck diplomat.

Posted by: owl on September 4 2007 8:59 AM

"Fires are needed in the forests."

BS and you know that! Fires are a natural disturbance in a NATURAL forest which is needed to take out patches of trees which are typically diseased. Fires are one of many of nature�s way of replenishing the forest. We have replaced that in MANAGED forests with fighting those fires and clearcutting to mimic the in part.

The fires we are talking about here are slash burns. Piled high garbage on small patches of ground where the only reason for burning is expediency, not forest health or anyone else�s health for that matter who happens to live nearby.

Posted by: diplomat on September 4 2007 11:32 AM

"Sorry for your bad luck diplomat."

It hasn't got anything to do with luck, but it has everything to do with needlessly burning slash IN the city and too close to the city limits.

Chip it, haul it away, get rid of it by burning it in a properly controlled power plant (located out of the airshed) which can contribute to the economy here via employment and feeding of electricity into the Hydro grid.

Sorry for you having the impression that people who prefer/need to breathe clean air are hurting the forests and the economy of our region!

I didn't think that just one person can have such a tremendous effect - and, no, I am not moving!

Just stop polluting the air and I will be fine.

Cheers!